can we sue our own insurance for any future medical

by avonnnnmom » Sat Jan 30, 2010 03:08 am

My husband was involved in an accident in my car. it was not his fault. the other driver does not have insurance. ( He hit and ran but was arrested) I do have uninsured motorist insurance . My PIP is taking care of injuries, not only for my husband but for my brother whom was passenger. Can my husband sue our own insurance under the uninsured motorist portion for possibility of future pain and suffering. Please don't misunderstand we are not "gold diggers" but he is suffering from severe headaches and diagnosed with whiplash,verified with xrays. So what do we do when medical trys to close claim. Normally if other party is insured you can "sue " for ex amount of money , for future medical issues if any. any help would be great. Thanks,

Total Comments: 16

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 04:23 am Post Subject:

First, I think you are mistaking "suing" the insurance company and filing a claim. Very few people file suit... millions filing claims and are paid. Did you file suit to get paid PIP?

Uninsured Motorist Property Damage (UIMPD) or collision under your own policy would address the damage to your own vehicle. Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury would address injuries in your vehicle (UIMBI). These are two different types of coverage. Not many people have UIMPD but many have UIMBI.

If you have UIMBI your carrier should let you know. You can ask and you can look at your policy.

UIMBI behave _exactly_ like the other person's coverage/carrier/insurance. They pay/offer what the other person's carrier would if he had insurance.

Yes, if you don't agree with what your carriers is offering you can obtain the service of an attorney and file suit against your own carrier. It's done all of the time.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 05:27 am Post Subject: Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury.

Your Uninsured Bodily Injury coverage would address this problem. If this is the initial offer from the company you must agree at the moment. Though pain and suffering are subjective, you might need to prove your damages. You can consult a doctor who could advise you on the future treatment. You can also produce expert testimony if your pain and suffering are not based apparently on the injury. You must initially make your claim and try and come to a settlement.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:37 pm Post Subject:

T you made a slight mistake in your post...OP it UMPD and UMBI he's talking about not UIM (which is 'under' insured motorist)...

As T said we don't know your state so we don't know the UM requirements or laws...if the at fault party is uninsured then your husband in most states would have a UMBI claim. AND your adjuster should've already explained and offered up this coverage UNLESS your state only allows this once the PIP threshold has been met...if you want post your state and we can check.

And Scarlett the (mocking bird :wink: )

If this is the initial offer from the company you must agree at the moment.

What on earth does this statement mean? It's incorrect is all I can say with certainty..you don't EVER have to accept ANY inital offer..

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 03:52 pm Post Subject:

T you made a slight mistake in your post...OP it UMPD and UMBI he's talking about not UIM (which is 'under' insured motorist

Not so much a mistake as a test. You passed! :lol:

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 06:25 pm Post Subject:

Thanks so much for your replies. We live in Washington State. I was mistaking claims vs lawsuit. So what is difference between PIP(which I am being told will cover ER visits and doctor visits so far incurred) and UMBI. If UMBI acts same as if "fault" party had insurance , will my husband be offered $ to settle and close claim under that or just my brother who was injured as well.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 06:38 pm Post Subject:

So another quick, hopefully not too far out there, question. MY car was totalled in this accident. I was leasing the car. The adjuster came in with damages and repair exceeding payoff for car by about 100 dollars. Am I just basically out of lease agreement and cannot do anything about car? What would of been difference if I would of been purchasing rather than leasing ? It was a 2008 Subaru Impreza.

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 07:05 pm Post Subject:

PIP addresses economical losses only, such as the medical bills. I can't speak for WA but it might also address expenses such as loss wages. Again, just actual expenses.

UMBI address any unpaid expenses as well as pain and suffering (pain and suffering is a on-economic loss).

If UMBI acts same as if "fault" party had insurance , will my husband be offered $ to settle and close claim under that or just my brother who was injured as well.

Anyone who was injured (and can support their injury claim) would be considered for payment undefr UMBI. UMBI does have a limit though (it stated on the policy what this limit is.. its listed as <person limit/<accident>.

Am I just basically out of lease agreement and cannot do anything about car? What would of been difference if I would of been purchasing rather than leasing ?

Well, yes... since it was never your car in anyway to start with. It was basically a long term rental. If you want to look at the glass 1/2 full, you no longer need to pay lease payments on a vehicle you don't have. Perhaps someone else can chime in on this but I'm pretty sure only the lease company wold be paid. I could be wrong.

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 01:31 pm Post Subject:

Re: Your lease, I'm with T on this, any leased vehicle that totaled on any claim I ever worked went to the owner of the vehice. (the company you leased it from). If it's a total they will still have to pay them the ACV of the car, which of course you cannot have any claim to. State differ on their sales tax and leased vehicles, if you had to pay full sales tax you might be able to get some of that...

Am I just basically out of lease agreement and cannot do anything about car?

Yeah pretty much...

What would of been difference if I would of been purchasing rather than leasing ?

They would owe (still) the ACV of the vehicle...if you owed 10k and this Impresza is worth, 15k, then the bank would get 10k you'd get 5k..on the flip side...let's say you owe 15k but it's ACV is 10k...still they pay the bank 10k and you're left with this 5k and no car, unless you have GAP insurance...I'm confused with one thing you mentioned

The adjuster came in with damages and repair exceeding payoff for car by about 100 dollars

What do you mean by the 'payoff'? The payoff of any vehicle has nothing what so ever with the ACV (actual cash value) which is what the carrier will owe, if they consider the vehicle a total loss.





Not so much a mistake as a test. You passed!

Little testin' Mama's mod abilility huh? Nice try :wink: you just have fast fingers my friend :wink:

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 06:34 pm Post Subject:

oops, I did mean (actual cash value), Thanks

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 06:43 pm Post Subject:

ok, so here's one more question pertaining to this accident. A I stated earlier my husband and brother were involved in this accident in my car. I travel out of town once a week for my business, I am no longer obviously able to do this as I no longer have a car and we do not have another car for me to drive. Am I eligibe for any recovery of lost wages? Thanks

Add your comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.